Three requests of the Greek church hierarchs to admiral G. А. Spiridov during the First archipelago expedition (1769-1774) from the funds of the Russian State Naval Archives

The purpose of the article is to analyze the petitions of the Greek hierarchs to Admiral G. А. Spiridov on the Russian-Greek relations during the stay of the Russian squadron in the Aegean Sea in the First Archipelago Expedition from 1769 to 1774. These petitions are stored in the relationship between the Russian Naval Forces and the local Greek population during the Russian-Turkish war. The specifics of the documents is that they were submitted by clerics and show how far the influence of the admiral of the Russian fleet extended in such issues as redistribution of the church property, almsgiving, and even permission for some hierarchs to celebrate church services. The analysis of petitions makes it possible to supplement the anthropological picture of the First Archipelago Expedition using the materials on church relationships, which is a separate facet in the history of Russian-Greek relations. The process of the research brings to the conclusion that the recognition of the authority of the Russian Naval Forces by the local population of the Archipelago was due to the political situation of Ottoman Greece and the desire of the Greek people to gain independence; due to the historical context of the relationship with Russia, and the use of arbitration power to solve the personal problems of the Greeks. The Greek population was interested in the temporary stay of Russian authorities in the Archipelago, both in the short term perspective - the possibility of solving the urgent problems of the inhabitants of the islands of the Aegean Sea, and in the long term perspective - liberation of Greece from the dominion of the Ottoman Turks.